1. The Solway Firth Spaceman

An astronaut is growing from the head of an innocent girl that smiles from a flowery field. Can it get weirder than this?

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The Solway Firth Spaceman puzzled generations of scientists, photographers, and philosophers. Taken in 1964, it shows what is beyond doubt a person in a spacesuit. A couple of decades earlier and it would have been checkmate for any rational explanation.

But the weird setup fits the timeframe. The Space Race was on at that time, as both the US and the Soviet Union pushed to send their men in outer space. You could call it a prophecy of the Apollo 11 1969 moon landing.

2. Time-Travelling Hipster

Finding vintage photos that have modern elements in them has been the Holy Grail of every enthusiast trying to prove someone in the future invented time-traveling.

Take this 1940 photo and judge for yourself. We agree it depicts a hipster that didn’t belong there. Either a glitch in the space-time continuum or a fully operational time machine, something transported the youngster from the 2000s just in time to witness firsthand the reopening of the South Fork Bridge in Canada.

Observe the crowd! He is the only men not wearing a hat, and the futuristic sunglasses and loose wardrobe leave no room for denial. Even his face tells a similar story. “No way, dude! Wait until I post these on Instagram” #timetravel.

3. The Babushka Lady

The 1963 assassination of JFK remained the biggest mystery of modern history mostly because authorities were not able to interrogate one key witness.

“The Babushka Lady” is the nickname given to the woman that appears colorized in the photo above. The mysterious woman was the only eye-witness not to be identified in the investigations that followed.

The fact that she had a camera and had a good view of the Presidential convoy made her even more desirable. Her shots could have finally confirmed the identity of JFK’s killer.

Intentional or not, The Babuska Lady used a scarf to hide her features. The only photo of her facing the camera is rather sketchy. She became a symbol of escaping the secret service and was thus dubbed a spy.

It helps to know that if the FBI or CIA want you, they get you! No one vanished like The Babuska Lady!

4. The Copper Family Falling Body

The Copper Family Falling Body is so popular they start the Ghostbusters School with a case study on it.

We won’t go into such detail, but it helps to know the shot is regarded as solid proof that the world of spirits sometimes forgets about the camera lenses. The story takes us back to a Texas of the 1950s.

The Cooper family just moved into the new home, and this was the photo they took to inaugurate it. The mother, grandmother, and two children are completely unaware of the spirit that decided not to pack things and leave.

Yes, it might look like one of those villains from Scooby Doo that do a bad job in scaring people. However, it is an excellent example of textbook haunting.

We attached for your amusement the photo non-believers claim it was used for the forgery. Even a toddler wouldn’t fall for that. And you still don’t believe in conspiracy theories?

6. The S.S. Watertown Ghosts

The most impressive photos come from those that would have no direct gain from making their story heard.

That’s exactly the case of the SS Watertown ghosts. What happened is fairly simple and straightforward. The tanker was traveling through the Pacific Ocean when two sailors, James Courtney and Michael Meehan, succumbed due to one of the many perils of the seven seas.

The creepy part starts after their bodies have been committed to the ocean, the most common funeral at sea.

The crew began to experience ghostly apparitions of the two, both on board and in the waves. Someone was inspired to take a photo, and it became instant headlines in the leading papers of the time.

The story came just in time to make the Christmas of 1924 awkward and haunting.

7. The Patterson–Gimlin Bigfoot

Do you think humans are the only intelligent primates inhabiting the Earth?

Take a better look at the best piece evidence we have on Bigfoot to date, and you might change your mind. Millions are anxious to meet their distant cousins and learn how a species can do such a great job in hiding itself from modern science.

The incredible photo is frame 352 of a film, the Patterson–Gimlin footage. Shot in 1967, it shows what appears to be a female Great Ape taking a casual walk through its territory.

The way “Patty” looked back at the paparazzi became iconic for any Bigfoot enthusiast. Generation of crypto-zoologist based their research and expectations on one of the most mysterious photos ever taken.

The Patterson–Gimlin Bigfoot is particular because five decades of hunting for the beast were not able to bring more compelling evidence.

8. The Black Knight Satellite

Can you imagine a satellite existing in Earth’s orbit thousands of years before humankind flirted with outer space technology?

No, we are not talking about the Moon. The Black Knight is the name that can make any UFO enthusiast sweat in anticipation. Why? Because NASA never dismissed the theory as false.

One thing is certain about the Black Knight Satellite. The mysterious object was photographed in 1998 during the STS-88, the first Space Shuttle mission that reached the International Space Station (ISS).

Although fuzzy, the photo clearly depicts a type of alien vehicle. The less likely alternative embraced by conservative scientists is that the Black Knight is nothing more than space junk.

9. The Goddard Squadron Ghost

Some would say about this photo that nothing can separate squadron comrades, not even death.

A superficial first look at the Goddard’s Squadron might reveal nothing wrong. However, the photo taken in the last days of WWI holds a creepy detail, observable only if you zoom in along the last line of soldiers in the back.

Go directly to the second photo below if you have troubles spotting the eerie face appearing from behind the fourth soldier from the left. Freddy Jackson was unlucky to die just days before the group photo. His spirit was determined not to miss the opportunity and is partially visible.

As for those claiming it to be fake, such people show no respect towards wartime heroes. Who would have the nerve to say that the barely visible man is not Freddy?

10. The Phoenix Lights

The Phoenix Lights was not a name used to describe taking your girlfriend to see the state capital’s lights from a romantic kissing spot.

The 1997 occurrence was instead one of the best documented UFO cases in modern history. The event had such a powerful impact that it even turned the governor of Arizona from an unbeliever who mocked the apparition on live TV to a die-hard supporter of the alien hypothesis.

The photo shows one of the two light formations that traveled across the Arizona skies. The photo below is a rendering of the second sighting. Both unidentified vehicles stretched multiple football fields in length and accounted hundreds of eye-witnesses and miles of footage.

What’s even more shocking is that the phenomenon occurred less than one year after “Independence Day” hit the cinemas. People had the image of the giant ships hovering over the world’s major cities too fresh in mind not to panic.

11. The Death Of Mary Reeser

What happens when you find a human body almost entirely incinerated inside a room that holds close to no signs of fire damage?

Blame it on the Wick effect, of course! Scientists were and continue to be too scared to admit spontaneous combustion is a real phenomenon. Instead, they came up with an explanation that the combination of clothes and body’s fat acts like a candle.

Mary Reeser died in shocking circumstances in 1951. Her body turned to ashes in one of the most bizarre cases recorded in modern criminology.

The investigation revealed an unusual fire as the cause of death although objects found near Mary’s corpse were only partially affected by the heat. The shrinkage of her skull was another effect that added to make the mystery impossible to solve.

Just take a look at the macabre photos taken on scene. Don’t blame us for feeling funny next time you will feel a fever running through your body!

12. The Grand Canyon Grim Reaper

A visit to the Grand Canyon was staple tourism for the average American family set to take a long road trip.

Everything changed once a creepy shot surfaced to make anyone anxious about leaning over the handrail to have a better look at the 2km deep canyon.

The most astonishing part is that no one noticed the odd looking man staring back at the camera from his vegetation hideout. Both the young man and the photographer (his uncle) had their minds too focused on the natural beauty to sense the unusual third presence.

Everyone who saw the pic was encouraged to come up with a plausible explanation. The inconspicuous Man In Black became the Grim Reaper, a suicidal teen, or even someone eluding the state and its taxes.

The Grand Canyon always had an incredible folklore attached to it and the disturbing photo taken there in the 1980s gave the legends a modern spin.

13. Bigfoot Seen On Mars

Everyone lost their minds when one of our planet’s cryptid appeared taking a stroll on Mars.

NASA should check their footage twice before putting it in the public domain, especially when there’s an entire community of Internet users sworn to unravel their cover-up.

The photo might lack clarity, but there is no doubt about the creature spotted in the most unusual of places. It helps to revisit the Patterson–Gimlin Bigfoot footage if you are unsure about the identity of the shy Martian dweller.

The second photo shows a better rendition of how the beast would look like in the barren landscape. With Curiosity still taking high resolution peeks in this alien world, similar photos are expected throughout 2017.

Just think of the day when our society will finally be ready to accept the mounting evidence. Borderline scientists that risked their entire careers by fighting mainstream theories will feel like the ones that proved the Earth is a sphere.

But we shouldn’t rush to take the mysteries of outer space head one. We still have some blank spots to fill down on Earth. Poltergeist phenomena make even the bedroom an uncertain environment.

14. The Enfield Poltergeist

What additional evidence do you need when you have children taken out of their beds and flown around the room?

The photo shows 11-year-old Janet Hodgson flying in what seems to be one of the few cases of levitation ever caught on film. Don’t rush to dismiss the authenticity of the case based on the high quality of the pics.

The single parent Peggy Hodgson alerted not only the police but also the media. The disturbed spirit was not shy to manifest itself while photographer Graham Morris from the Daily Mail stood in the room.

Even decades since the story left the first pages, Morris, and the others involved still back the events as genuine. No one was able to give an exact dimension to the phenomenon that made the parents of Enfield install bed seatbelts for their children.

15. The Hessdalen Lights

Since Vikings ceased to become a nuisance, nothing exciting ever emerged from cold and barren Norway. At least not until a strange light phenomenon made the Hessdalen valley famous around the world.

The Hessdalen lights left modern science with its hands tied. That is mostly because there is no recognizable pattern. The optical phenomenon is random regarding speed, intensity, duration, or color. What could cause the strange sightings?

It’s pointless to say the valley in central Norway became a UFO hotspot. But it didn’t stop there. The Hessdalen Lights became the child prodigy of ghost-hunters, crystals worshipers, and spiritual gurus, all claiming paternity.

Like all the other photos on the list, no one was able to come up with a comprehensive explanation for the lights reported as early as the 1930s.

16. The Hook Island Sea Monster

Scientists continue to add new species in the zoology books, and we might reconsider some older evidence initially dismissed as hoaxes. The few shaky photos of the Hook Island Sea Monster are enough to give us a sense of its proportions.

Taken near Hook Island, Queensland (Australia) in December 1964, they seem to depict a creature at least 30 meters in length. The tadpole-like monster was spotted and photographed by Robert Le Serrec and his family.

Can you imagine being in Robert’s shoes and feeling those fine of yours turn into needles? When you can’t tell your kids what type of animal they are witnessing, it means you have material that would make any cryptozoologist go mad.

17. The Unexplained Pterodactyl Photo

Could it be possible that the violence of the American Civil War swept in its way the last living Pterodactyls?

Something isn’t right here and even those failing miserably at history could spot the anachronism. Mainstream science wants us to believe that millions of years separate the giant flying reptiles from the time the Southern States rebelled against the Union.

The vintage photo that remained unexplained might tell a different story. Fighting General Lee’s forces was intense, but its brief moments of peace allowed men to pursue their outdoors hobbies.

Although many voices claim what we see is a modern reenactment of the conflict that benefited from Photoshop, there is one substantial reason why such a photo wouldn’t create a big fuss back them. In the 1860s 99% of the population was still convinced that God created the world just thousands of years before the current era.

The giant bird was nothing more than beginners luck for the youngest shooter of the squadron. The living fossil ended up on the menu, and only the photo survived.